Theme Of Government Control In The Handmaid's Tale

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Isn't it crazy how sometimes one government can control an entire society of people? In the novel The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, the government has control over all of its citizens. The society in this book is called Gilead. While reading the novel, you realize how much control the government actually has over its people. For an example, the ceremonies, the commanders, and the colonies are the biggest ways that the government establishes control over its citizens. From the book you can tell that there are some societies, that are nowhere near free. Fear and manipulation are used to keep the people of gilead in line. If citizens do not abide to their rules, then there will be very harsh consequence. Sometimes they even give harsh punishments …show more content…

He is very understanding of her and wants to get to know her for who she really is. Which is not allowed and no one can know, or they will both receive a harsh punishment. Offred's commander allows her to read sometimes, and they play scrabble together and have conversations about their lives outside the society. The commander knows that what is going on is not right. The government is trying to isolate the citizens from the rest of society. “Knowing was a temptation. What you don't know won’t tempt you”. The government thinks that if you do not know things going on in the society, then there will be no way that they will be tempted into revolting against them. They feel that without rewarding them with knowledge, then they won't know how wrong they are being treated. But as the book continues, the people don't follow the rules as much as they did before. For example, Offred begins to have sex with Nick. Which it is only allowed that she has relationships with the commander. But they are both starting to not follow the rules as closely. Which the commanders are not allowed to know the Handmaid's, there only interactions are allowed to be over sex. But the commander likes the idea that they are friends. In my opinion Gilead is a perfect example of a oligarchy. An oligarchy means a small group of people having control over a society which is the type of government Gilead possesses. The people in control of the government are the higher powers and they are doing everything they can to make sure that no one has the power to disobey them. The gilead society is not a place where there are equal freedoms. It is also not a place where you have the ability to make your own

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